PINK dresses, shirts, button holes and ties were the order of the day when family, friends and work colleagues packed Worcester Crematorium for a service of celebration and thanksgiving for the life of journalist Sarah Veall, who died after a lengthy battle against cancer.

Sarah had left instructions there was to be no sadness at the funeral, and the congregation entered to the song Heroes by her favourite artist David Bowie and left to the sound of Happy by Pharrell Williams.

She had asked that everyone wore something pink, her favourite colour, in celebration and pink flowers and bouquets bedecked her coffin.

A hero Sarah certainly was - she had raised much money for charity - but not all possess her remarkable strength of character and her passing was an emotional occasion.

Fellow sub editor, Pete Wallace, spoke for everyone when he said: "Sarah was the bravest, most inspirational person I have ever been fortunate enough to have the privilege to know.

"She bore her illness with such positivity and selflessness. Sarah was always putting others before herself, always approaching life with a smile and a joke, always the model professional journalist.

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"All our lives are the richer forever for her tragically short time among us. We will miss her for all the rest of our lives."

Sarah, who was 39, lived in Warndon Villages, Worcester, and was an avid supporter of charitable causes, both human and animal, organising neighbourhood parties that raised more than £1,500 a time, particularly for St Richard's Hospice.

During a spell sub-editing pages for Berrow's Worcester Journal, she regularly featured dogs from the Worcester branch of the RSPCA which needed a new home.

As Sarah Cross, she had attended Lewes University in Brighton and then journalism college in Gloucester before landing her first job as a reporter on the Redditch Advertiser.

Later, she moved to the Hereford Times as a sub editor and then five years ago transferred to join the sub editing team at Hylton Road, Worcester, designing news pages and features for a variety of local newspapers.

Worcester News editor Peter John said: " Everyone in the newsroom was devastated to hear about Sarah.

"She was brave, sunny, optimistic, and never complained at her lot despite the pain and discomfort she endured for years."

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There's certainly a new angel in Heaven now and St Peter's daily news sheet will definitely have a brighter and fresher look to it.

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